


float on

by momsasuke



Series: commissions [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Aquariums, F/M, First Dates, Fluff, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Humor, M/M, Other, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-02
Updated: 2019-03-02
Packaged: 2019-11-07 21:04:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17968025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/momsasuke/pseuds/momsasuke
Summary: Summer has passed by and you wake up to realize you won't be able to see the new temporary exhibit at the Konoha Aquarium this year. To your shock and bewilderment, Might Gai shows up at your door with a toothy grin and a surprise date in store.





	float on

_BEEP!_

Your eyes groggily creep open, adjusting slowly to the soft indirect rays of light peering out form between the blinds. After finding the will to get out of bed, you shut off your phones alarm and let your legs dangle off the edge of the bed. A quick glance at the wall calendar resulted in a groan. Today’s box had a seashell and exclamation point drawn in it: your reminder that today was the last day of the special summer exhibit at the Konoha Aquarium. The aquarium had always been a place of relaxation and wonderment for you, and when you had first heard about the new traveling exhibit a few months back, you swore to yourself you’d go. But as the summer crawled on, you found yourself muddled down with work and today was no different. Another passive glance at your sketchbook resting on your desk didn’t help your mood either; you had been hoping to grab a bench at the aquarium and draw the animals in the exhibit in person.

With a sigh, you pulled yourself on to your feet and got ready for work. Your routine was simple and the intense heat wave rippling through Konoha limited your outfit options anyways. As you made your way into the kitchen, a knock at the door caught you off guard. You slowly crept up to the peep hole to see who your early morning visitor was. To your surprise, Might Gai was standing in front of your door with a blinding smile. He had a pair of sunglasses propped up on his head, pushing back the bangs of his usual bowl cut. From what you could see in the fish-eyed lens, he was wearing a _tight_ white T-shirt and a pair of athletics shorts. It was an odd divergence from his usual green tracksuit that he wore he regardless of climate.

You opened the door with an eyebrow raised. Gai’s smile somehow grew larger as the door opened, hands cocked on either hip.  “Gooooood morning, Y/N!”

Your confusion was still present, but Gai’s goofy antics nevertheless made you smile, “Uh good morning, Gai. Any particular reason you stopped by?”

Gai reached into his pocket and handed you a flyer. You scanned over it before a frown swept over your smile, “The aquarium exhibit? Yeah, today is the last day-“

“Yes it is!” Gai rejoiced, “And I would like to take you!”

You sighed, handing Gai the flyer back, “I’m sorry but I have work tod-“

Gai cut you off with a chuckle. “Taken care of! I spoke to Kurenai and she is happy to cover for you today.”

You blinked a few times to process the information before you gave him a slight smile, “You arranged that for me?” Gai nodded in response and your smile widened, “How did you know I wanted to go to this exhibit?”

Gai laughed again, and you took notice of how brightly his eyes shined when he laughed. “You really don’t know how much you’ve talked about the aquarium this summer, do you? I’ve been planning this date for a few months now, but I wanted to surprise you at the last minute. Please forgive me if my cunning ways caused you any distress!”

_Date?_ The word stopped you dead in your tracks. You tried to hide the blush forming on your cheeks but the thought of Gai having planned this _date_ for months now had you practically jittering with happiness. You shook your head at his last comment, “No, this is a great surprise. Let me just grab something…” Your sentence trailed off as you scurried back into your room, leaving Gai waiting patiently at the door. You switched out your workbag for a smaller backpack and tossed your camera in the bag. You glanced at your sketchbook apprehensively, not sure if Gai would be willing to sit there while you drew for an hour. You reluctantly placed the sketchbook in the bag along with a small pouch of art supplies just in case.

Throwing the bag over your shoulder, you returned to Gai at the door. You retrieved your car keys from your pocket, “Let me guess, you walked here, didn’t you?”

Gai gave you a thumbs up, “The secret of youth is to exercise whenever you can!”

You rolled your eyes with a smile, stepping out of your apartment to lock the door. “While I appreciate your _youthfulness_ , I don’t want to die of heat stroke before we get there, so let’s drive.”

Gai was happy to oblige, letting you take the lead to your car. The aquarium was a quick 15-minute drive just to the outskirts of downtown, and Gai’s more than joyful attitude and conversation made you partially wish the ride wouldn’t end. Pulling up to the aquarium parking lot and seeing signs for the summer exhibit reignited your excitement and you practically ran to the entrance, with Gai cheering about the passion of youth at your heels.

The two of you approached the ticket booth and a disgruntled boy with white and blue hair waved you two forward. Gai gave the attendant his usual cheerful smile and held up two fingers, “Two adult tickets please!”

The attendant, completely unbothered by Gai’s cheer, typed something on the register before pressing on his microphone button. “That will be $50.”

Gai reached for his wallet faster than you could comprehend and slid a fifty dollar bill through the opening on the glass. He bent his head down to read the attendant’s name tag. “Thank you, Suigetsu!” The attendant nodded and slid two tickets across the counter. Gai grabbed one ticket and handed the other to you. He slipped a hand to the small of your back with the other hand gesturing to the aquarium doors, “You lead the way!”

You nodded, the sensation of Gai’s large palm on your back making you blush once again. As you entered through the doors, Gai’s hand left your back and settled back at his side.

The first exhibit you always went to was the tropical and exotic fish exhibit, which took up the majority of the aquarium. To your relief, the aquarium wasn’t very busy this early in the morning, so you and Gai were able to stroll through unbothered. You took a moment to watch the fish of each tank, taking photos of particularly intriguing fish. Gai stood by your side, pointing out his favorite fish in each tank.

At one tank, Gai let out a small gasp before raising a finger up towards the tank. “Look at that!”

You had been photographing a small aquatic snail stuck to a leaf at the bottom of the tank and looked up at him with confusion, “What is it?”

“Look!” Gai stood behind you, moving your shoulders slightly to be at his point of view as he pointed up. Trying your best to ignore his touch on your bare shoulders, your eyes followed the tip of his finger towards the tank. Tucked in the corner of the tank were two pale colored fish that you recognized as Kissing gourami. True to their name, the fish appeared to be trading kisses with one another.

You laughed, turning around to face Gai. “You know that’s how they show off their strength, right?”

Gai flickered his eyes from the two kissing fish down to your eyes, “Such youthful passion!” You could have sworn you saw tears welling up in his eyes, which made you laugh harder.

Once you made your way through the fish exhibits, the next stop was the crustaceans and cnidarians. The exhibit began with several tanks of jellyfish, which floated aimlessly in the water. Gai was completely captivated by their movements and he watched the jellies float with two hands pressed against the glass. You stood back, enjoying watching Gai’s excitement more than the jellyfish themselves. After a few minutes, Gai peeled himself from the glass to look back at you with a smile, “I never knew they could be so beautiful!”

“Wanna see my favorite?” You asked, grabbing one of his hands and leading him to a tank across the room. The tank was full of white spotted jellyfish that floated and reflected light in a spectacular show. The two of you stood, captivated with wonder at the jellyfish and completely oblivious to your still interwoven fingers. Your hand fit naturally in Gai’s larger palm, warm and calloused from years of training. Once reality slowly started to seep in that you were in fact holding Gai’s hand, you glanced at him through the corner of your eye to find that he was making the same realization, although a soft blush formed across his tanned skin.

“Sorry, I can-“ Gai started to pull his hand away but you cut him off by squeezing his hand slightly, a sign of reassurance.  Gai paused for a moment to register the contact before returning the gesture with a blinding smile. “You ready for the big special exhibit?”

You nodded, the giddy excitement from earlier bubbling to the surface. The two of you continued through the exit of the jellyfish exhibit and entered the main hall. A large banner over the entrance to the north wing pointed you in the right direction.

The temporary summer exhibit was a bevy of sea otters from the national aquarium in Kiri. They had installed a tall, 270 degree glass tank that included ample room for the group of five otters to dive and swim for the public’s enjoyment. As you approached, practically running up to the glass, you couldn’t help but flash a smile that rivalled Gai’s own. The otters dipped and dived through the water, emitting small chirps of excitement as they played with toys in their tanks. Gai seemed to be just as enthralled, nearly busting his gut when he saw one otter playing with a toy barbell.

After a few minutes of enjoying the otters, you reach into your bag to take out your camera. You stepped back, trying to capture the otters as they swam past like small torpedoes. You snapped a few pictures and flipped through the gallery only to frown. The quick motion of the animals photographed as a blur, and the warp of the glass distorted the image further. You deleted the few images with a sigh.

Gai, noticing your disappointment, placed a gentle hand on your shoulder to get your attention. “Something wrong with your camera?”

You shook your head and opened your backpack again, setting the camera inside, “Not quite. I just can’t get a good picture of them swimming to draw later. It’s silly-“

Gai was focused on your opened notebook. “Is that your sketchbook?” He asked, an inquisitive brow raised (which you could see for once due to his hair being pushed back by the sunglasses). You nodded at Gai. “Why don’t you draw them now? We can sit at that bench right in the center.” Gai raised a thumb towards a small wooden bench.

You offered him a soft smile, “It takes me a while to draw. It would probably take me an hour to sketch all the otters in different positions.”

Gai reached for both of your hands, giving them a tender squeeze. “I’d be happy to sit with you for as long as you need!” He smiled as per usual, but something behind his eyes told you this smile was more caring than his usual toothy grin he gave everyone. You returned his smile and led him over to the bench.

You sat to Gai’s right, legs crossed under you as you hunched over your sketchbook. Drawing required your focus and use of both of your hands, so Gai sat close to you while still leaving you the space you needed to draw. He occasionally peeked down at the page to rave about how talented you were, encouraging you to keep going when one particular otter paw threw you for a loop. By the end of the hour, you had filled up the sketchbook spread with various otters swimming in different perspectives.

“I am utterly amazed by your youthful passion. You inspire me, _Y/N_.” Gai captured your left hand once you had set down your pencil. You felt your face flush a little bit and managed to mutter out a _thank you_ in response.

Suddenly, Gai was on his feet and with a quick tug, he managed to prop you up as well. “My special surprise is not over yet! Are you ready to go?” He asked you, helping you put everything back into your bag.

“I think so!” You smiled as Gai put your backpack over his bag, which looked infinitesimally small on her broad back. The two of you exited the exhibit hand-in-hand, waving goodbye to the otters as you left. Gai led you towards the exit but quickly turned into the small giftshop. A tall gruff looking man with a blue mohawk gave the two of you a muffled _welcome_ as you entered. Gai swiftly brought you to a large center display with tiers of otter merchandise, from mugs to figurines to plushies. He presented the display with a small _TA DA!_ which made you chuckle.

“Pick out anything you like! I’m getting this for myself!” Gai held up a green shirt in front of him that read “I’m Otterly Awesome!”. You snorted with laughter, which caught Gai off guard. With his cheeks flushing slightly, Gai ran a thumb over the back of your hand, “You sound so adorable when you snort like that. I must make it my goal to make you snort each and every day!” He raised his other fist in the air to accept his own challenge.

The blue mohawk cashier muttered “Get a room” under his breath and you rolled your eyes at Gai, smiling, nonetheless. You grabbed one of the otter plushies, which was an otter on its back holding a small red cartoon heart instead of a rock. It was the exact kind of thing you would’ve picked out as a child, but it tugged on your heartstrings all the same.

“Excellent choice!” Gai took the plushie from your hand and brought both items up the counter. Your heart nearly dropped when you saw that the shirt and plushie together cost $50, but Gai reassured you that he was more than happy to buy it for you. He pulled the plushie out of the bag for you to hold as you walked.

The two of you walked to the entrance of the aquarium, pausing to talk while still under the protection of the air conditioning. Gai looked more nervous than usual as he pulled you aside to talk,

“I hope my surprise date was everything you hoped for and more!”   
“I had a great time, Gai. Because of you. I-I guess we head back to my car and I can drop you off at your place…?” Your sentence slowly drifted off.

“Or,” Gai started, “if you’d like, our date doesn’t have to end there.”

You squirmed a little bit with a nervous blush. The fact that you were on a date with Gai still hadn’t registered in your brain because everything felt so natural with him.  Through your nerves you managed a smile, “Yeah, I’d like that, Gai….Dinner?”

Gai let out a booming shout of excitement, and all eyes of the visitors and employees of the aquarium were on the two of you. You couldn’t have cared less; seeing Gai being so excited to continue your date was all you needed.

As you made your way to the arm, you wrapped an arm around one of Gai’s enormous biceps and leaned your head against his arm. “Sorry for not being a cheap date.”

Gai gave a hearty chuckle and you could feel the vibrations of his laughter ring throughout his body. He glanced down at you before placing a small kiss on the top of your head, “In my book, you’re worth it.”


End file.
